Lycogala epidendrum

Scientific name: Lycogala epidendrum (L.) Fries Derivation of name: Epidendrum means "on wood" in
reference to its typical habitat. Synonyms: Lycoperdon epidendrumCommon name(s): Wolf's milk slime; Toothpaste slime.Phylum: Myxomycota Order: Liceales Family: ReticulariaceaeOccurrence on wood substrate: Saprobic; scattered to
clustered on well-rotted wood; June through November.
Dimensions: This slime mold forms fruit bodies 3-15 mm
wide. Description: The globose to subglobose or compressed
fruitbodies of Lycogala epidendrum are at first pinkish-gray
to bright cinnabar-red when young. At this stage the flesh is
a
pinkish, paste-like substance (like toothpaste?). With
maturity
the fruit body becomes yellow-brown or olive-
brown and the
spore mass becomes powdery and pinkish-
gray to ochre in
mass. Edibility: Inedible.
Comments: Although many slime mold species fruit on
wood,
slime molds do not form a penetrating and absorptive
mass of
hyphae in
the wood substrate. Rather, slime molds
form
structures called
plasmodia which are naked
(i.e., without cell
walls) masses of
protoplasm which can
move and engulf
particles of food in an
amoeboid manner.
Slime mold
plasmodia creep about over the
surfaces of
materials, engulfing
bacteria, spores of fungi and
plants,
protozoa, and particles of
nonliving organic matter. At
some
point, plasmodia convert
into spore-bearing
structures. InLycogala, the plasmodium
converts into a
globose to
hemispherical mass of spores
enclosed by an outer wall
called a peridium. This structure is
called an aethalium
(plural: aethalia).